Chapter 958: A Different Mountain Splitter (1/2)

Yan Ding said, “It’ll be bad if Luo Bingfeng kills his way out.”

Without waiting for Song Zining’s reply, the old man from the imperial court said, “He won’t. He isn’t sure if we’re luring him out into a trap. If I were him, I would never take such an unnecessary risk. At least inside the city, the holy mountain gives him an edge. Look!”

The old man flicked his finger, shooting countless crystalline granules from his fingertips that turned into a shower of graceful snowflakes. Some of the snow fluttered down, but the rest remained hanging in the air, outlining a domed crystalline barrier over the holy mountain.

“This is the domain of the holy mountain, and it looks even more powerful than I’d anticipated.”

The airship was parked not far off from the holy mountain. Seeing just how close the barrier was, one of the people said with a worried expression, “What should we do if he charges out and attacks us?”

Many people looked concerned.

Song Zining laughed. “No need to worry! Luo Bingfeng is a hero who despises ambushes, lest his name becomes tarnished. I’m the only one who’ll do such a thing, haha!”

The group accompanied the laughter, seizing the opportunity to get off this topic.

The Li family elder frowned. “This holy mountain domain isn’t simple at all! If the city lord keeps hiding inside, it’ll be pretty difficult to deal with him. Seventh Young Noble, what should we do?”

Another aristocratic family elder chimed in, “Yeah, this holy mountain needs to be removed. Seventh Young Noble, you accepted so much money for us saying you’ll do away with the holy mountain. Don’t tell me you have no way against it.”

Song Zining smiled. “I’ve long since found a solution, there’s no need to hide it from everyone at this point. Look, there’s our answer.”

Everyone looked in the direction Song Zining was pointing and saw rows upon rows of heavy artillery. Up until this point, there was still a steady stream of crates being brought up, from which numerous components were being extracted to assemble heavy cannons.

“Heavy cannons?”

The group had already noticed these heavy cannons, but they didn’t think too much about them. Such weapons were impressive but didn’t have that big of a use. They were secretly mocking Song Zining for going overboard just to dismantle the city defenses. Tidehark was a well-fortified city, but its defense systems couldn’t be compared to the Empire or Evernight. What was the use of so many heavy cannons?

“Yes, they are the answer. As for how to use them, you’ll find out on the morrow.” Song Zining kept everyone in suspense.

Deep in the night, the empire’s armies had already completed assembling. The well-lit camp was even more dazzling than Tidehark City itself, but the entire base was quiet as the soldiers were all resting up for the upcoming all-out assault. The defensive forces didn’t dare to be careless, even for a moment. They remained vigilant the entire night, for fear of a surprise attack.

The warships hovering constantly in the air made it impossible for the defending army to charge out and attack. Dawn finally arrived—the imperial elites walked out of their barracks in high spirits, while the defenders were fairly fatigued.

The defense general’s eyes were bloodshot from the apparent lack of sleep. He glared down the city walls, not willing to let any movement escape his notice. All the while, the hand he had pressed onto the wall was trembling ever so slightly.

Someone behind him placed a hand on his shoulder. “Scared?”

The defense general turned about and stood at attention. “General Du!”

Du Yuan nodded. “Are you scared?”

The defense general’s face turned red. “When have you seen me scared in all these years. I just can’t figure out what they want to do.”

Du Yuan glanced down the city wall with a frown. “Flowery but hollow inside, what are you afraid of? Such a large array of heavy cannons, what are they even trying to do? Tear down the city walls? Ha, just let them tear!”

“General Du, I fear…” The defending general was hesitant.

It was at this time that the earth trembled slightly, and a cloud of white mist appeared over the distant cannon array. One of the heavy cannons fired a test shot amidst a thunderous rumble that echoed in the clouds.

This was a calibration shot that shouldn’t have brought about much of a surprise, but Du Yuan’s expression shifted as the projectile screamed toward them.

With his near-divine-champion eyesight, the cannon shell was moving at the speed of a snail. The range of this shot was oddly long. It swept across the entire city region and landed on the holy mountain.

With no time to think carefully, Du Yuan shot into the air with a loud roar and intercepted the cannon shell, destroying it with a punch.

The defense general was astonished, and the other soldiers were also puzzled as to why Du Yuan would care so much about a single cannon shell.

Outside of Tidehark, Song Zining opened his folding fan and said coldly, “You can stop one, but can you stop several hundred? I’ll have to see if you have more origin power or if I have more ammunition. Men, issue my order, all cannons at the ready, fire in bursts of three!”

After a moment of silence, the earth-shattering rumble of cannon-fire drowned out everything. Rows upon rows of cannon-shells flew toward the holy mountain like a swarm of locusts.

Du Yuan’s face was filled with despair. He flew into the air once more, spewing out countless streams of azure flames from his body which covered an area hundreds of meters around him. The cannon shells would explode immediately upon contact with the energy, painting a magnificent scene of flaming balls in the air.

That was the extent of Du Yuan’s ability—he could only stop projectiles within a hundred-meter radius. However, the holy mountain was so big that most of the shells managed to get through. The defense general also noticed that something was wrong and ordered his subordinates to start intercepting the cannon shells as well. These officers weren’t afraid of being struck, but it was doubly difficult for them to intercept the incoming artillery.

In mere moments, the earth was shaking and the mountains were trembling.